Line of Fire
by L.Medora
Summary: Castiel and a group of rebel angels are up to something to help Dean in his insane plan to kill the devil. But at what cost?
1. Chapter 1

Has your life ever been so normal to the point where you'd rather suffocate that live one more day? It is for me…all the time. Sure I have good friends and a nice family, but lately everything has been disconnected and altogether weird. But it all changed when a new student came to school. Everyone could tell that he was different--just passing through town as his parents waited for a job offer to go through. He was tall and looked as though he could pass for a twenty six year old if he grew a beard.

He was in my first class which is when I first noticed him. He was two classes above me, but he hadn't taken the honors English and really wanted to. He leaned over to my desk and tapped my shoulder.

"Hi," he whispered. "What's your name?"

"Amy," I said.

"Cool, I'm Cas."

"Just Cas?"

"Yeah, boring, I know." He flashed me a beautiful white smile that seemed to brighten his impossibly blue eyes.

For the next two weeks he would talk to me every morning, immediately erasing any chance of a bad day. It was as though his objective in life was to make me laugh and smile for him, no matter what. For the first time in a long time I was able to really relax and be happy. Though, there always some part of my mind saying _he is way too good to be true. Any moment he'll tell you his father is an ex-con in prison and his mother is a prostitute!_ But I told that part of my mind to suck it and moved on.

At the end of the two weeks he invited me and a few of my friends to join him at the most important football game of the season.

Everyone arrived at the game in school sweaters, thick scarves, beanies, and gloves.

"Hey, you made it!" Cas said, lighting up the second he saw me. He stood up to make room for me and my friends on the bleachers. He gave me a light hug before sitting down.

"I really hope we win," I said conversationally. "I know a lot of guys out there have football scholarships riding on a win."

"Yeah, some of my new friends," he nodded.

I never knew much about football, well, not a lot. I knew which side our team needed to run the ball over to for a touchdown, when certain tackles were good for us or bad, and when the quarterback did his happy dance his girlfriend was waiting for him behind the bleachers. Though I didn't let it be known because Cas was willing to talk through it most of the game. And I liked hearing his voice and how he laughed when I asked him to explain something twice.

When we won the game, everyone jumped out of their seats and cheered. Cas hugged me tightly and wouldn't let go of my hand as we all ran to the locker room to congratulate the team. Cas stood up on one of the benches and called everyone's attention.

"After party at my place!" he shouted. The team and everyone else nearby cheered and followed him out.

"I've never been to your house," I said as we walked off campus.

"It's big," he said. "My parents paid a fortune just to rent it out for a few months."

"If this turns into a rager, it'll be a mess in the morning," I laughed.

"Eh, Maria won't mind if I maid with her for free."

Cas was telling the truth about his house. Compared to the suburbia that I lived in, it was magnificent. Three floors of royalty. As I had predicted, the party immediately got wild and incredibly loud. When someone brought a keg Cas decided it was time to give me a tour of the house.

It was all so beautiful that I felt like a princess just being in the vicinity. But I was less impressed by his room. It was…normal. A few posters on the wall, a half full bookshelf and a nicely made bed. But he let me go through his notebook of writing, so we stayed put.

"You should become a professional writer," I told him as I flipped through the worn pages of stories written in ballpoint pen. "You're really good."

"Hey, I've read a few of yours," he said. "Maybe we should put our ideas together…make something incredible."

"Maybe," I said with a shy smile. My friends had been pushing me to hit on him since we met, but I always refused. But I was feeling a little risky…

"Novelists or children's books?" he asked.

"Would it be so horrible to attempt both?" I returned.

He looked down to hide his blushing face and smiled.

"Amy, can I tell you a secret? Something I've never told any human being?"

"Of course," I said, growing excited.

He looked up, his blue eyes wide and entrancing. He leaned over and captured my face in his gentle hand, further alluring my mind to his power.

"I'm not who you think I am," he said quietly. "I've been sent to you on a mission of grave importance. I need your help. All you have to do is say yes."

"I-um…usually like t-to know what I'm saying y-yes to," I stuttered.

He turned his head and whispered in my ear. I could barely hear a thing, but some part of my mind processed it perfectly and assured me with warm and light feelings.

"Yes," I whispered.

He lifted me into his arms and gently set me on the bed. He seemed to float over me, pressing his body to mind with the slightest pressure. Then he pressed his smile to my lips and so the story goes…


	2. Chapter 2

Heaven was…strange. I couldn't understand anything of what was going on. Apparently, I wasn't _allowed _to. I had also discovered that Cas was actually an angel, Castiel, and what he had asked me to say yes to would have been at the top of my no list had I been in the right mind. After a wonderful night bliss, Castiel tore me from my body and sent me to heaven leaving a bare and empty shell of a body on Earth. He couldn't explain to me how I was pregnant while separated from my body, but I didn't mind.

Heaven was filled with light and happy feelings, though I was sure the experience was different for me than it was for angels. I felt like I was permanently in that stage of waking up after a drug induced sleep for surgery. I was given a nursery to stay in that looked seemed a dreamlike replica of one from Earth.

On my first day, Castiel came to visit me.

"How do you feel?" he asked in a voice that shimmered lightly through my being.

If I had lips, I smiled then. "Wonderful."

"Good, good. We want you to be happy here."

"Cas, tell me a bedtime story," I said dreamily. His being smiled and came over to stay beside me.

"Once, there was an angel who fell from heaven to Earth," he began. "Her name was Anna. She loved being an angel, but she wanted to be a human more, so she cut out her grace and fell. Many years later, a brave hero rose from her ashes and gave birth to two sons. Together, they saved many lives, but eventually needed Anna's help. So they found her grace and gave it back to her. She went all around looking for other angels who would be willing to join her in helping the children of the hero and restoring peace to heaven. She and the angels found a hiding place where the mislead angels would never find them. But the children need something else. They want to defeat a horrible evil and to do that, they need a weapon unlike any other."

He laid a warm hand on what would be my womb.

I smiled. "Our baby can help them?"

"Yes," he said. "This child may be the world's only hope."

I sighed sadly. "I never want to let it go…"

"I understand. But we can take care of it up here. We can protect better than any shield and provide more than the richest human on Earth."

"I know…but that doesn't mean I have to like this whole situation."

Castiel smiled lightly.

"Come, let's go for a walk."

"I thought we were hiding?"

"We are. But Anna and the others have found an area of heaven that allows us access to its light while being unseen by the others."

I smiled and stood up to follow him.

Outside the nursery was a beautiful sight. As far as I could see which isn't saying much, was a floor made of clouds that looked like the works of a fog machine or dry ice. Tall marble pillars reached up to a permanently night sky and a crescent moon that never faded.

"We know how much you live this scenery, so we change the appearance of our hideout," Castiel explained.

"It's beautiful!" I said, twirling around. Castiel laughed with me and followed as we moved forward.

****

There was no sense of time in heaven. But for a wonderfully long time, the angels kept me there. They kept me happy. I had nearly forgotten everything about my life on Earth. But as time went on, the other soul that grew within me was nurtured loved by the other angels who had disobeyed. Castiel routinely took me for walks through the beautiful hideout and told me all kinds of amazing stories about the children named Sam and Dean who I would be helping. I would ask Castiel to retell my favorites like the ones with the prophet, Chuck, their father, John.

After what had to be a thousand years, all the angels gathered around me for the birth of my daughter. Even the pain was wonderful in heaven. Castiel let me hold his hand though I had to have broken all the bones in it.

Anna handed me my daughter wrapped in the softest blanket I could imagine. She was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen and much more real than any of the angels. She was a human born in heaven—a hybrid like no other. I immediately named her Claire.

I held her for the longest time, not wanting any of it to end. But I knew it was inevitable when Castiel came to see me alone.

"It's time to go home, Amy," he said softly. "Don't worry, Claire will be fine. She will grow knowing how brave and strong her mother was."

"Will I ever get to see her again?" I asked, torn with the worst pain I had ever felt.

"Yes, when the war is over. You two can be a family then."

"And what about you?"

"I will visit when I can, but for now, my duty lies with the Winchesters."

"Thank you, Castiel."

He took my dearest Claire and sent me through a tornado of feelings as I fell from heaven and collided into my body.

I sat up, gasping and sputtering in the hospital bed. A team of doctors and nurses shouted with surprise. I saw the main doctor's hand, halfway towards a button I knew would 'pull the plug' on my lifeline. I instantly remembered why I hated Earth. My parents were going to kill me in my sleep…

"Help!" I screamed. "Help me! They're going to kill me!"

The doctors frantically worked to restrain me, strapping my arms and legs down and forcing my head back.

"Hold on, sweetie," one of the nurses said over my screams. "You're okay, you're going to be okay!"

I broke down sobbing from the overload of emotion and lack of feeling. Earth was so dull and cold I just wanted out.

"Where is she?" I demanded over and over.

"Your mom?" asked the nurse. "She's been alerted. Your family is coming."

"No!" I screamed. "I don't want her! I want Claire!"

A liquid flowed through the IV in my arm and I was instantly calm.

"Very good," said the nurse. "Sweetie, talk to me."

"Where are they?" I sobbed. "I want to go home…"

"Amy, were you dreaming all this time?" the nurse asked.

"All what time?" I asked, trying to rip the needle out of my arm, despite the restraints.

"Honey, you've been in a coma for six months."

I really wished she would stop acting like she was my grandmother with all the 'sweeties' and 'honeys' because I was feeling sick enough as it was.

"Not a dream," I muttered. "I was gone…"

"Yes, you were gone for a long long time," she said. "Tell me everything you remember."

"I…" I remembered everything and was too sleepy to filter. "I was the birthmother of an angel who is going to be a weapon in the war for control over the apocalypse."

The nurse and all the others in the room laughed heartily.

"Of course you were. Now let's try to get some sleep. We don't want you to go be a big hero for the angels in your condition!

"Not me—Claire," I muttered. "My baby…Castiel has our baby."

"Well, Amy, I've been your nurse ever since your parents brought you here. I can tell you, there is no Claire."


	3. Chapter 3

"Amy, I want you to tell me the truth," my dad said. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"I went to sleep," I said slowly, wanting it to sink through his thick skull and that of everyone else in the room. "Then I didn't wake up. I tried, but I couldn't."

"Your friends said that the last time they saw you was when you were with that boy," he said stiffly. "Cas."

_Castiel…_I formed the name without saying it. I missed him so much."

"Sweetheart, did he hurt you?" my mother asked. "I know boys these days have access to drugs and all sorts of horrible things."

"He didn't do anything bad," I said defensively. "I…I just left the party when things got too rough. I went to sleep and didn't wake up. That's it."

"Well everything is normal now," said the nurse. "There was no sign of why it happened, but Doctor Morgan believes it won't happen again. You'll be free to go within an hour."

And I would be freed of her and her cheerfulness. I was given my normal people clothes and my family drove me home. My room was as clean as I remember it. As normal. It reminded me of Cas's room. My mother had obviously gone through it and cleaned everything up. No picture out of line, not a single wrinkle on the bed. I fell on top of it, wanting nothing more than to sleep and fall back into my bliss of a coma.

* * *

I stayed home for six months after my coma. I had six appointments every day—all of them house calls. A nurse in the morning, fitness trainer, three tutors to catch me up in school, and the nurse again at night. After three months, the nurse handed me my bill of health and left me alone. Three months later, the tutors had me caught up and the trainer left with them. All that left me with three weeks of summer vacation before school began.

But when it did come, things only got more depressing. In my first class, I made sure to sit in the very back of the class but I could still hear the whispers from the front. Angie was supposed to be my friend. Apparently six months is a long time for change.

"Hey," whispered a boy I had never seen before. "What's with the depressing chick?"

Angie looked back, trying to be subtle and failing miserably.

"Her boyfriend left town and she had a freaking mental breakdown. She _just _got out of a coma."

"Wow…no guy's gonna want that pressure."

"Tell me about it. The girl's a nutcase."

I couldn't stay angry at Angie. I wasn't feeling all that much emotion lately. But after six months of blah, I wasn't too suspicious. I was actually beginning to wonder if that annoying nurse had been right. That everything was just a dream. But my parents had mentioned Cas…while I was drugged up. I needed proof. A reminder. The packaging could have been better, but I got what I wanted after school.

I was walking to my car—the consolation present for all I had been through. Keeping Cas's stories in mind, I specifically requested a '67 Chevy Impala. But of course it went through my dad's 'guy' and became a uel efficient money saver. So much for escaping to the soft purr of my baby's engine.

One of the guys from the football team ran up to me. He was never a good friend of mine. In fact, we had a constant game of insulting each other.

"Hey, veggie," he said, punching me on the shoulder with all the strength I knew he could pack. I hardly had to make an effort to keep a straight face.

"What do you want, Josh?" I demanded.

"Is it true you almost died because that Cas dude broke your heart?" he asked with zealous.

There's my proof.

"Shove it," I spat.

"Because I heard that the freak took advantage of you and skipped town."

And that was too much. I spun around and kicked him in the sweet spot so that he bent over, screaming in agony.

"I thought I told you to shove it, Josh!"

I ran to my car and locked myself inside. I took calming breaths, knowing I would have to explain to someone why I assaulted a peer. Josh always was a whiny jerk when it came to damaging his ego.

Looking up I saw that the sky was cloudy. Any second it was going to rain. I leaned my head back against the seat, remembering all I could of heaven. I had always had a powerful imagination which is probably why it was so easy to convince my mind that I was experiencing it all again. I was walking through the moonlit halls of the hideout with my dearest Claire still attached to me.

I was shaken awake by a strange man in a police uniform.

"What's going on?" I demanded angrily of the man who had so rudely torn me from my happy place.

"Amy, we've been searching everywhere!" he exclaimed.

"What time is it?"

"Three in the morning. Your parents have been really worried."

"I fell asleep," I shrugged.

"No, we've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes. We're taking you to the hospital."

"Sheriff, I'm fine," I argued.

"Not my call. It's your mother's. Now let's go."

Despite my constant protesting, they drove me to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. I tried to explain at length how I just didn't _want_ to wake up. After the doctor ran a few hours of tests, he released me with a warning to be careful. But I had my drug…I wasn't going to give it up that easily.

* * *

I held up on thinking about heaven for the rest of the week, but on Friday night I told my family that I would be staying up late so I had an excuse to sleep in. I escaped to my dream world and stayed there as long as I possibly could until my mother forcefully woke me up late into the next evening. I went there as often as I could, having discovered that I was hopelessly addicted. My parents and friends grew worried when they theorized that my mini-comas were self inflicted. I didn't care.

For months, I continued my extracurricular activities, learning to sink further and further into my mind and eventually how to drag myself out. That way the worry went away and I didn't wake up kicking and screaming. It was like repeatedly going from a baking desert to the North Pole in an instant in the most painful process, but I couldn't get enough of it. I would be damned if I ever considered stopping.


	4. Chapter 4

"Your assignment today—write me one body paragraph on the story we just read," announced the teacher. "You are allowed to use the example thesis, but I would prefer you write one of your own. C'mon, people, let's make General Zaroff proud and show him we're geniuses with pens! Let's get writing; there's only an hour to do it!"

I adored my English teacher. She was cute as a button. But writing hadn't been a friend of mine for about a year. I got out my pencil and a piece of lined paper and began to write. It was easy to spurt some random crap on a piece of paper about a man who hunts humans and how terribly wrong it was and how brave Rainsford had to be. I finished before everyone else leaving an entire class period to myself. I got out a notebook and began to doodle.

"Amy, why aren't you writing?" asked the teacher.

"Finished," I mumbled. I held up the paper and she took it from me. She took her time reading it.

"There isn't anything you would like to add?" she asked.

I shook my head no. the teacher sighed disappointedly and walked away.

As I drew random rose petals over my notebook, I heard the classroom door open.

"May I help yo—?"

The teacher was instantly cut off by the newcomer placing two fingers on her forehead. The teacher was instantly knocked out. The woman walked quickly around the room and stopped by my desk.

"Clear," she announced.

"Chotah?" I asked, remembering that she was an angel.

"You can see me?" she asked, slightly alarmed. I nodded. "He will not be happy…"

"Amy, you know her?" demanded Angie.

But at that moment the door opened a second time and three more angels walked in. Anna, a newcomer, and Castiel being dragged by them.

"Tell her!" Anna ordered forcefully.

"Tell me what?" I asked, standing up from my desk.

"He didn't want to tell you. Thought he could leave you out of the loop," Anna said angrily. "Her own _mother!_"

Castiel was staring down at his hands with shame, not wanting to say anything. I walked over to him and pressed a hand against his cheek. He looked up at me, sorrow and grief in his eyes.

"Is this about Claire?" I asked. He reluctantly nodded. "Castiel, you need to tell me."

He opened his mouth to speak, but failed at words. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder which seemed to calm him a bit.

"A very powerful demon used some kind of incantation and was able to…kidnap Claire," he said slowly.

It took a moment for the shock to process. Then the fear and anger settled in. My comforting hand clawed deep into Castiel's shoulder as I struggled control.

"What are you going to do?" I demanded.

"We're doing whatever we can to get a definite location on her, then we will send our strongest warriors to bring her back to us."

"No," I hissed. "Castiel you listen to _me_. You are going to go out there yourself and find our daughter and bring her to me. If the angels themselves can't protect her, then her own mother will!"

Castiel resumed looking down with shame.

"They will obviously be searching for you now," Anna said. "Castiel will take you to your bodyguards who will protect you as well as take part in Claire's rescue."

Castiel reached up with two fingers and pressed them gently against my forehead. Everything around us disappeared with the sound of flapping wings and we suddenly appeared in a dingy motel room. There were two beds, each with a man resting on it. Empty pizza boxes and ice cream containers overflowed the sink and blood stained a good portion of the furniture. The two men were sound asleep, one of them curled into a tight ball and the other sprawled out with his jaw hanging open.

"These are my fearless warriors?" I whispered critically.

"They've had a hard few years," Castiel shrugged. "But we must be able to hide you from any unfriendly eyes…"

He placed a hand on my chest and I felt a burst of energy pass through me.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Something to protect you," he said. "I must go search for our child, but you will be safe with them as long as you don't mention about half the things I've told you."

"Are you going to tell me which half?" but Castiel had disappeared again.

I puffed out a stressed lungful of air, now left with two sleeping warriors and nothing to say to them. So I left the motel room. I planned to only walk to a grocery store and pick up some decent breakfast since school started too absurdly early for that. But I stopped when I saw the car. The Impala. Could it be? I popped open the hood and nearly shouted with joy. The real engine—not some prissy money saver. Peering through the windshield I saw fast food trash littering the backseat. Walking around the car I opened the trunk and lifted and extra board that revealed the armory.

I ran back into the motel room.

"You're the freaking WINCHESTERS!" I shouted. The boys jumped up, alerted, with guns in their hands.

They stumbled out of bed, reaching for something I couldn't see. The shorter of the two grabbed a spray bottle and began squirting it at me while the other pushed me onto a rug. When I didn't start screaming in pain, they stopped.

"What gives?" the shorter asked.

"You're Dean, aren't you?" I asked with a smile. He frowned. I looked to the taller one. "Sam!"

"How do you know who we are?" Sam asked.

"Castiel," I shrugged. They instantly relaxed and turned away from me to put their weapons back. "So, did you guys actually fight a bipolar teddy bear?"

Dean rolled his eyes at Sam.

"Um, not exactly fight," said Sam. "We didn't really do any fighting that day except with the Chinese restraint guy."

"Speak for yourself," Dean said.

"Right, you got beaten up by that little kid!" I giggled.

Dean frowned. "Tell Cas thanks for keeping our lives on the down low when he comes to pick you up."

"It might be a while," I sighed.

Sam and Dean shared a frown.

"How long is a while?" Sam asked.

"As long as it takes to get my daughter away from the demons," I said as the fear rekindled itself.

"No offense," Dean said roughly, "but why does Cas care about helping one little girl?"

"Because she's his daughter, too," I said.

Sam's jaw dropped and he laughed incredulously. Dean smiled and shook his head.

"Castiel—family man," he said. "Who knew?"

I smiled at the thought of Castiel being part of a family, but even more when a question came to mind. "Sam, did you really have to survive Becky?"

His eyes widened and he turned a shade paler.

"Oh, yeah," Dean said, slapping Sam on the back. "Those two were real tight."

"So…why don't you tell us more about your situation with Castiel," Sam said quickly.

I sighed and leaned back into a comfy chair.

"He manipulated me into his bed where he got me pregnant, brought me to heaven, and took my baby. The worst part was having to come home and pretend like nothing ever happened."

"How did he manipulate you?" Sam asked. Cas told me that he was the more sensitive of the two. I liked him better.

"He used angel speak instead of honest human English."

Dean froze and faced me.

"You can understand angel speak?"

"Yup. I was in heaven for six months; communication would have been hard if I couldn't."

"What is it?" Sam asked Dean.

"Cas told me that only a few special people can perceive his true visage," he said, almost bitterly. "He thought I was one of them and nearly screeched my ears off."

"It's a lot more graceful when you can really hear it," I said dreamily. "Very…addicting."

"Alright, so what are we supposed to do now?" Sam asked.

"I guess we just wait until Castiel either brings back my daughter or tell us how to find her," I sighed. "Either way, it's probably going to be a while."


End file.
